Our Mission: Grit + Community-Driven Power  

We envision a future in which a diversified natural resource-based economy sustainably supports prosperity and resilience for all residents. We undertake actions that build community capacities to actively define and shape our futures. Our proactive approach to community development welcomes opportunities while balancing environmental stewardship and accessibility to public services. We are forging a scalable model through the following strategies:

• Sustainable Industry Development: Creating industry-community partnerships that build diverse economies and support well-paying jobs in tourism, recreation, and natural resources; 

• Building Multistakeholder Networks: Relationship building that engages trust as the foundational infrastructure for transformative community change; and

• Honoring Treaties: Stewarding the lands and waters within the Ceded Territories and Home Territories of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community as defined by the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe.

Core Pillars of Investment

Northern Roots directs our efforts into four high-impact areas, which will ensure the region remains livable, beautiful, and sustainable for future generations:

• Thriving Forests & Balanced Economies: The timber, mining, fisheries, and recreation industries have comprised the backbone of our economy for generations. We engage strategies that enable the continued co-existence of these sectors by leveraging existing assets, attracting aligned investments, and navigating conflicting land uses.

• Building Local Leadership: In rural communities, the ability to work together efficiently is vital. We utilize a train-the-trainer model to embed skilled leadership in our communities, ensuring our communities have the locally grounded expertise to proactively plan for and lead future economic shifts.

• Experiential & Applied Learning: We aim to adapt and strengthen proven approaches. By studying other forest-reliant regions facing similar challenges—such as recreation-based tourism and economic diversification—we bring global best practices back and apply them through a local lens. 

Creating an Ethical Space: Actively learning how the rights and responsibilities to these lands and waters inform rural development beyond the legal framework of the two treaties signed by the L’Anse and Ontonagon Bands of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and the United States (1842, 1854) is foundational to long-term sustainability of the region.